Articulating medical examination tables are typically provided in medical examination rooms to support and place patients in various positions that facilitate examination and/or the performance of various medical procedures. Conventional examination tables typically have a table assembly that includes seat section and a back section supported on a base unit. The seat and back sections are moveable relative to one another and the base so that a patient can be placed in a desired position. The seat and/or back sections may be articulated by actuating mechanisms such as motors, pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders, or other devices to move the seat and back sections between the various positions and to adjust the height of the seat and back sections relative to the base. Most tables typically have a back section that is maneuverable from a first inclined orientation, relative to the seat section, for supporting a patient in an initial seated position, and a generally horizontal orientation, relative to the seat section, for supporting a patient in a supine position.
Patients are routinely weighed during medical examinations. To facilitate weighing the patient, the examination table may include a built in, or integrated, scale. In this way, the patient may be weighed without having a separate scale in the examination room, and without requiring the patient—who may be ill and in a state of undress—to leave the examination room during the examination. The integrated scale will typically include one or more load sensors that support at least a portion of the examination table and that generate signals proportional to the force exerted on the load sensors by the supported portion of the examination table. These signals are, in turn, provided to a scale or control unit, which determines and displays the patient's weight. However, conventional examination table scales have several drawbacks.
For example, to provide an accurate patient weight, the examination table scale must account for the weight of the supported portion of the examination table as well as any items that may be sitting on or attached to the supported portion. A scale must therefore be “zeroed” or tared just prior to use to ensure that only the weight of the patient is measured. Because patients are typically shown into the examination room before the arrival of the medical staff member who will be conducting the examination, the patient will normally be seated on the examination table when the staff member arrives. Thus, the staff member will often be required to either ask the patient to get off the examination table so that the scale may be tared, or skip the taring step. Exiting the examination table may be uncomfortable for the patient, who may be in a frail condition. The staff member may also be reluctant to inconvenience the patient, and may therefore choose to skip taring the scale. Staff members may also simply forget to tare the scale prior to taking the patient's weight.
Another problem encountered in using conventional integrated examination table scales involves the height of the table assembly. To facilitate elderly or disabled persons getting onto and off of the examination table, as well as to improve overall patient comfort during an examination, it is sometimes desirable that the overall height of the table be low enough so that the patient's feet touch the floor while they are in a seated position. However, this creates a problem with regard to weighing the patient because all of the patient's weight is not supported by the table assembly unless the patient's feet are suspended above the floor.
Still another problem involves patients who suffer from conditions that cause involuntary motion. Patients with severe tremors, such as those caused by advanced stages of Parkinson's disease, are often unable to hold still long enough for the table scale to measure a stable weight.
Therefore, there is a need for an examination table with an integrated scale that does not require taring by medical staff, that provides easy ingress/egress to patients, and that can accurately measure the weight of patients who suffer from involuntary movement.